Draft Anti-Racist Policy Eli Hurley and Tim McShane
1.0	DEFINITION OF RACISM
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2.0	GENERAL STATEMENT
2.1	This policy was agreed by the staff of Badock’s Wood Primary school and applies to all members of the school community whether adult or child.
2.2	Why We Need an Anti-Racist Policy at Our School.
2.2.1	Since Badocks Wood is situated on a largely white estate and has a predominantly white intake it may not be immediately apparent why our school needs an anti-racist policy.
2.2.2	Firstly, it is precisely because many of our children have had little contact/experience of other cultures that ignorance, confusion and misinformation may result in other cultures being stereotyped.
2.2.3	Secondly, when faced with racist, attacks, graffiti and abuse it is often argued that the answer lies in better education but because there may be little evidence of such incidents it is easy to leave the underlying attitudes unchallenged and to avoid educating children about these issues.
2.2.4	We expect all children to find school a safe and welcoming place where they are able to achieve success irrespective of their nationality or ethnic background. It is not possible to achieve this if any of its members face prejudice or hostility because of their ethnic origins. Therefore we need an anti-racist policy to ensure equality of opportunity of education for all children.
2.2.5	By having such a policy we give a clear message to everyone in the school community that racism will not be tolerated.
2.2.6 Finally it is a legal requirement of the LEA to “eliminate unlawful
racial discrimination and promote quality of opportunity, and good
relations......” Sec 71 Race Relations Act 1976

3.0	AIMS OF THE ANTI-RACIST POLICY
•	to make our school a safe and welcoming place for all its members. To provide an environment in which racist assumptions, attitudes and behaviour are continually challenged, to provide a curriculum which emphasises the positive aspects of all cultures and to give children the confidence that racism can and must be eradicated.
•	to give children and adults confidence that racism can and must be eradicated.
•	to develop staff awareness of implicit racism within school, community and society and issues of using correct terminology, customs, language etc.
•	to enable staff to directly intervene with incidents of racism by giving them guidance to efficiently deal with incidents of racial harassment.

.4.0 SUGGESTED GUIDELINES FOR DEALING WITH RACIST BEHAVIOUR.
4.1	Guidelines for Incidents
The following major steps may be taken in dealing with racist behaviour:
a. Identifying the racist behaviour.
b. Dealing with the perpetrator.
c. Supporting the victim.
d. Dealing with the impact of racist incidents in the whole school and the community.  e. Monitoring.
4.2	Identifying Racist Behaviour
4.2.1	Racist behaviour may be defined as any hostile or offensive act or expression by a person of one racial and ethnic origin against a person of another racial group or ethnic origin or any incitement to commit such an act in such a manner that it interferes with the peace and comfort of the aggrieved person.
4.2.2	It is not the presence or otherwise of black pupils in the classroom which determines whether or not a comment is racialist or offensive. In any discussion an offensive comment cannot go unchallenged.
4.2.3	Categories of racist behaviour
In order to identify racist behaviour in educational institutions the following categorisation of types of incidents has been produced.  
a.	Physical assault because of colour and/or ethnicity.  
b.	 Derogatory name calling, insults and racist jokes.  
c.	Racist graffiti. 
d.	Provocative behaviour such as wearing racist badges or insignia.  
e.	Bringing racist materials such as leaflets, comics or magazines into school.  
f.	Verbal abuse or threats.  
g.	Incitement of others to behave in a racist way.  
h.	Racist comments in the course of discussion in lessons. 
i.	Ridicule of individual for cultural differences e.g. food, music, dress etc.  
j.	Refusal to co-operate with other people because of their ethnic origins.
4.3	Dealing with Perpetrators
4.3.1	Dealing with students.
All racist incidents should be dealt with no matter how trivial they may seem to be.
The following general procedures may be followed in dealing with the perpetrators.
a.	Physical assault.
Report to class teacher if appropriate.
Record in log book.
Full report to head teacher.
Letter to parent/guardian. Take necessary action to prevent recurrence.
b.	Derogatory name calling insults and racist jokes.
Members of staff must not ignore any form of racist abuse in school.  Explain fully to the perpetrator that verbal racist abuse will not be tolerated.
Explain why it is offensive as child may draw no distinction between fatty and “paki”.
Even if the person has been provoked it not acceptable for retaliation to be racist abuse.
Persistent offenders must be referred to Senior Management team or Head teacher.
Record in log book.
c.	Racist graffiti.
All racist graffiti in school must be reported to the Head and removed immediately.
Record in log book.
d.	Wearing racist badges or insignia.
We will not permit the wearing of racist badges or insignia.
The child should be referred to Senior Management team.
Record in Log book.
e.	Bringing racist materials into school.
Racist literature should be removed.
Student to be referred to Senior Management/Head as appropriate.
Parents/guardians should be informed.
Record in Log book.
f.	Verbal abuse.
see b
g.	Incitement of others to behave in a racist way.  see b
h.	Racist comments in the course of discussion in lessons.
Racist comments must not go unchallenged.
Persistent offenders must be referred to SMT or Head as appropriate.
Parents/guardians should be informed.
Record in log book.
i.	Ridicule of individual for cultural differences e.g. food, music, dress etc. see b
j.	Refusal to cooperate with other people because of their ethnic origins.
Explain that students should work collaboratively. Every student should have the right to be included in school activities and the school should not exclude any student on racial, cultural or linguistic grounds.  Persistent offenders must be referred to SMT or Head as appropriate.
Record in log book.
Parents/guardians must be informed.
4.4	Support to Victim.
a.	A victim or victims of racist behaviour will need immediate attention from a member of staff in order to prevent the danger of shock and long-term suffering.
b.	An appropriate member of staff needs to explain the action taken and to express the attitude of the our school towards such behaviour giving the opportunity to the children to express their own concern and feelings.
c.	In serious cases the Headteacher should meet parents or relations of victims to explain the action taken and to discuss the matter with them.
4.5	Dealing with the impact on the school and community.
a.	Racist graffiti or slogans whether on books or walls should be removed immediately on discovery and any damage repaired.
b.	Racist literature, badges and insignia should be confiscated on discovery and the reason for not allowing them explained.
c.	If the matter is of serious nature all the students and staff should meet together to discuss it. Assemblies may also be used for the purpose.
d.	Any distortion of matters through rumours should be explained promptly by the teachers.
e.	If the incident is of a serious nature then feedback from parents and responsible members of the communities should be obtained in order to assess the impact of the incident.
4.6	Monitoring. (see Appendix for sample incident sheet)
4.6.1	There is a need to monitor racist incidents in every educational institution in order to :
a.	get a full picture of the frequency and nature of racist incidents:
b.	measure the effectiveness of the methods used by our school in responding to racial incidents:
c.	give staff a statistical bases for analysis of racist incidents.
4.6.2.	We need therefore to keep a record of all racist incidents. Records should be kept in such a way that they give details of the offence, the person(s) concerned , action taken and sanctions imposed. Racist incidents may be recorded under the following categories:
a.	Racist violence and threat
b.	Racist abuse and insult.
c.	Racist graffiti.
d.	Racist literature.
General Measures to be taken.
Staff Awareness
There will be at least one staff meeting per term given over to an Equal Opportunities issue to raise awareness of the staff about issues such as language, stereotypes, resources used etc.
Folder containing information on the multicultural nature of Britain.  Secretaries especially need to be aware of such things as correct names, ages etc.
Book Stock. The book stock is resourced avoiding stereotypes unless appropriate to the text such as history books, older poetry and fiction books and books dealing with EOP’s issues.
Data Collection
Including in information items such as - First language, religion, “how would you describe yourself”